Temporary subscription access via an alternate television receiver

ABSTRACT

Various arrangements that permit temporary subscription porting are presented. A temporary subscription port request may be submitted by a subscriber. The temporary subscription port request may include an identifier of a visitor television receiver and authentication information for the subscriber. In response to the temporary subscription port request, a first command to a home television receiver may be transmitted that disables viewing a first set of television channels linked with the subscriber&#39;s subscription account. In response to the temporary subscription port request, a second command to the visitor television receiver may be transmitted that enables viewing the first set of television channels linked with the subscriber&#39;s subscription account.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.14/176,445, filed Feb. 10, 2014, the disclosure of which is incorporatedby reference herein in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

Television subscriptions are typically immobile. For instance, if asubscriber orders a particular package of television channels, thesubscriber is typically locked into viewing those television channelsvia user equipment located at the address associated with thesubscriber's subscription, such as the subscriber's home. An occasionmay arise where the subscriber may desire to view a television channelat a location other than the address associated with his subscription.

SUMMARY

In some embodiments, a system for subscription porting is presented. Thesystem may include a subscription management computer system. Thesubscription management computer system may be configured to receive,from a first subscriber, a temporary subscription port request. Thetemporary subscription port request may include an identifier of avisitor television receiver and authentication information for the firstsubscriber. The subscription management computer system may beconfigured to, in response to the temporary subscription port request,transmit a first command to a home television receiver that disablesviewing a first set of television channels linked with a firstsubscription account, which is linked with the first subscriber. Thesubscription management computer system may be configured to, inresponse to the temporary subscription port request, transmit a secondcommand to the visitor television receiver that enables viewing thefirst set of television channels linked with the first subscriptionaccount. The home television receiver of the system may be configured topermit access to television channels based on received instructions. Thevisitor television receiver of the system may be configured to permitaccess to television channels based on received instructions.

Embodiments of such a computer system may include one or more of thefollowing features: The visitor television receiver may be furtherconfigured to, in response to user input, display information thatidentities the visitor television receiver. The subscription managementcomputer system may be further configured to receive the temporarysubscription port request from a mobile device of the first subscriber.The information that identifies the visitor television receiver may be agraphical image. The temporary subscription port request may comprise acaptured image of the graphical image. The temporary subscription portrequest may include an indication of a location of the mobile device.The subscription management computer system may be further configured tocompare the location of the mobile device with a stored address linkedwith the visitor television receiver. The home television receiver maybe configured to record television programming based on one or moretimers while viewing of the first set of television channels of thefirst subscription account is disabled. The recorded televisionprogramming may be inaccessible while viewing of the first set oftelevision channels of the first subscription account is disabled. Thesecond command may authorize viewing of the first set of televisionchannels for a predefined period of time.

Additionally or alternatively, embodiments of such a computer system mayinclude one or more of the following features: The home televisionreceiver may be configured to transmit, via a network, a confirmation tothe subscription management computer system that indicates viewing ofthe first set of television channels has been disabled in response tothe first command. The subscription management computer system may befurther configured to transmit, the second command to the visitortelevision receiver that enables viewing of the first set of televisionchannels after receiving the confirmation from the home televisionreceiver. The visitor television receiver may be configured to send theidentifier of the visitor television receiver via a local wirelessnetwork to a mobile device of the first subscriber. The subscriptionmanagement computer system may be further configured to receive thetemporary subscription port request from the mobile device of the firstsubscriber. The system may include a remote control that is configuredto store a set of user preferences that were set by the first subscriberat the home television receiver. The remote control may be furtherconfigured to transmit the set of user preferences to the visitortelevision receiver while the remote control is used with the visitortelevision receiver.

In some embodiments, a method for subscription porting may be presented.The method may include receiving, by a subscription management computersystem, from a first subscriber, a temporary subscription port request.The temporary subscription port request may include an identifier of avisitor television receiver and authentication information for the firstsubscriber. The method may include in response to the temporarysubscription port request, transmit, by the subscription managementcomputer system, a first command to a home television receiver thatdisables viewing a first set of television channels linked with a firstsubscription account, which is linked with the first subscriber. Themethod may include, in response to the temporary subscription portrequest, transmit, by the subscription management computer system, asecond command to the visitor television receiver that enables viewingthe first set of television channels linked with the first subscriptionaccount. The method may include, in response to user input, causing, bythe visitor television receiver, information to be displayed thatidentities the visitor television receiver. The method may includereceiving, by the subscription management computer system, the temporarysubscription port request from a mobile device of the first subscriber.The information that identifies the visitor television receiver may be agraphical image. The temporary subscription port request may include acaptured image of the graphical image. The temporary subscription portrequest may include an indication of a location of the mobile device.The method may include comparing, by the subscription managementcomputer system, the location of the mobile device with a stored addresslinked with the visitor television receiver. The method may includerecording, by the home television receiver, television programming basedon one or more timers while output for viewing of the first set oftelevision channels of the first subscription account is disabled. Themethod may include blocking, by the home television receiver, output ofthe recorded television programming while viewing of the first set oftelevision channels of the first subscription account is disabled. Themethod may include transmitting, by the home television receiver via anetwork, a confirmation to the subscription management computer systemthat indicates viewing of the first set of television channels has beendisabled in response to the first command. The subscription managementcomputer system may be further configured to transmit, the secondcommand to the visitor television receiver that enables viewing of thefirst set of television channels after receiving the confirmation fromthe home television receiver.

In some embodiments, a non-transitory processor-readable medium forsubscription porting is presented. The non-transitory processor-readablemedium may include processor-readable instructions configured to causeone or more processors to receive, from a first subscriber, a temporarysubscription port request. The temporary subscription port request mayinclude an identifier of a visitor television receiver andauthentication information for the first subscriber. The instructionsmay be configured to cause the one or more processors to, in response tothe temporary subscription port request, transmit a first command to ahome television receiver that disables viewing a first set of televisionchannels linked with a first subscription account, which is linked withthe first subscriber. The instructions may be configured to cause theone or more processors to, in response to the temporary subscriptionport request, transmit a second command to the visitor televisionreceiver that enables viewing the first set of television channelslinked with the first subscription account.

Embodiments of such a non-transitory processor-readable medium mayinclude one or more of the following features: The identifier of thevisitor television receiver is a graphical image. The temporarysubscription port request may include a captured image of the graphicalimage. The temporary subscription port request may include an indicationof a location of the mobile device. The instructions may be configuredto cause the one or more processors to compare the location of themobile device with a stored address linked with the visitor televisionreceiver.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A further understanding of the nature and advantages of variousembodiments may be realized by reference to the following figures. Inthe appended figures, similar components or features may have the samereference label. Further, various components of the same type may bedistinguished by following the reference label by a dash and a secondlabel that distinguishes among the similar components. If only the firstreference label is used in the specification, the description isapplicable to any one of the similar components having the same firstreference label irrespective of the second reference label.

FIG. 1 illustrates an embodiment of a satellite-based televisiondistribution system.

FIG. 2 illustrates an embodiment of a television receiver.

FIG. 3A illustrates an embodiment of a subscription porting managementsystem (SPMS) controlling access rights at multiple televisionreceivers.

FIG. 3B illustrates another embodiment of a SPMS controlling accessrights at multiple television receivers.

FIGS. 4A and 4B illustrate a swim diagram of a method for subscriptionporting.

FIG. 5 illustrates an embodiment of a computer system.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Typically, a particular television subscription package is tied to aparticular set of one or more television receivers, located at aparticular location. For instance, a subscriber may have four televisionreceivers located in his home (the subscriber's home televisionreceivers) through which he is permitted access to a particular set oftelevision channels. If the subscriber visits a friend across townhaving the same television service provider but a less extensivesubscription, the subscriber may be stuck with only watching thetelevision channels available through his friend's subscription andtelevision receiver (the visitor television receiver). This isunfortunate, particularly if there is a television program that is notavailable under the friend's subscription that the subscriber would liketo view while at his friend's home.

In embodiments detailed herein, a subscriber may be permitted totemporarily move his subscription package to another set of one or morevisitor television receivers, referred to as a “subscription port.” Todo this, access to viewing of the television channels may be blocked atthe subscriber's home television receiver while the subscription isactivated at a visitor television receiver. Returning to the previousexample, while at the friend's house, the subscriber may be able to viewany television channel available as part of the subscriber'ssubscription package via the visitor television receiver. During thetime the subscription is ported to the visitor television receiver, theone or more home television receivers at the subscriber's home locationmay be blocked from being used to output television channels for viewingunder the subscriber's subscription. As such, at any given time, thesubscriber's subscription may only be used to view television at onelocation.

In some types of television distribution systems, the above arrangementmay be complicated by the communication pathways between a televisionservice provider and subscribers' television receivers. For instance, inat least some satellite television distribution systems, aunidirectional link is present between television distributionsatellites and television receivers. Therefore, for a televisionreceiver to transmit information to the television service provider, analternate communicate path would be necessary. In some embodimentsdetailed herein, a subscriber's mobile device (e.g., cellular phone,tablet computer, personal digital assistant, computer, or other form ofnetwork-enabled computerized device) is used to capture an identifier ofthe visitor television receiver. The identifier may be displayed via adisplay device (e.g., television) and may be entered into the mobiledevice by the subscriber (or some other person). Alternatively, adisplayed graphic (e.g., a QR code) may be captured by the mobiledevice, possibly decoded, and transmitted to the television serviceprovider. The identifier is transferred, via the Internet, to thetelevision service provider. In some embodiments, the location of themobile device is verified to be within a predefined distance of thevisitor television receiver. Via satellite, the television serviceprovider can suspend access at the subscriber's home television receiverand enable access to the subscriber's subscription package at thevisitor television receiver. This may be performed for a set period oftime, such as one day, or until the subscriber provides anotherindication, such as via the mobile device, that temporary use of thesubscription at the visitor television receiver should be ended.

While a subscriber may wish to watch programming via the visitortelevision receiver, the subscriber may desire for various timers at thesubscriber's home television receiver to still result in televisionprogramming being recorded. As such, while live television programmingmay not be viewed while the subscription port is active, live televisionprogramming may still be permitted to be recorded by the home televisionreceiver. Viewing of such recorded television programming may be blockeduntil the subscription port is ended. Further detail is provided inrelation to the figures detailed below.

For the purposes of this document, the term “home television receiver”refers to the television receiver located at a subscriber's normal, homelocation. For instance, a subscriber's home television receiver maylikely be located at his residence. A “visitor television receiver”refers to the television receiver at a location where the subscriber isvisiting, such as a hotel, friend's residence, family residence,vacation home, etc. While embodiments detailed herein refer to a singlehome television receiver and a single visitor television receiver, itshould be understood that at a subscriber's home location, multipletelevision receivers may be present. Similarly, multiple televisionreceivers may be present at a visitor location. The embodiments detailedherein can be applied to such situations involving multiple home and/ormultiple visitor television receivers. For example, if access isdisabled at a home television receiver, this may also be interpreted asaccess being disabled at multiple home television receivers at the homelocation.

FIG. 1 illustrates an embodiment of a satellite television distributionsystem 100 that is configured to permit a subscriber's subscriptionpackage of television channels to be temporarily used at a visitortelevision receiver at another location. Satellite televisiondistribution system 100 may include: television service provider system110, satellite transmitter equipment 120, satellites 130, satellite dish140, television receiver 150, and display device 160. Alternateembodiments of satellite television distribution system 100 may includefewer or greater numbers of components. While only one satellite dish140, television receiver 150, and display device 160 (collectivelyreferred to as “user equipment”) are illustrated, it should beunderstood that multiple (e.g., tens, thousands, millions) instances ofuser equipment may receive television signals from television serviceprovider system 110 via satellites 130. For instance, FIGS. 3A and 3Billustrate user equipment at a home location and at a visitor location.

Television service provider system 110 and satellite transmitterequipment 120 may be operated by a television service provider. Atelevision service provider may distribute television channels,on-demand programming, programming information, and/or othercontent/services to users. Television service provider system 110 mayreceive feeds of one or more television channels from various sources.Such television channels may include multiple television channels thatcontain at least some of the same content (e.g., network affiliates). Todistribute television channels for presentation to users, feeds of thetelevision channels may be relayed to user equipment via multipletelevision distribution satellites. Each satellite may relay multipletransponder streams. Satellite transmitter equipment 120 (120-1, 120-2)may be used to transmit a feed of one or more television channels fromtelevision service provider system 110 to one or more satellites 130.While a single television service provider system 110 and satellitetransmitter equipment 120 are illustrated as part of satellitetelevision distribution system 100, it should be understood thatmultiple instances of transmitter equipment may be used, possiblyscattered geographically, to communicate with satellites 130. Suchmultiple instances of satellite transmitting equipment may communicatewith the same or with different satellites. Different televisionchannels may be transmitted to satellites 130 from different instancesof transmitting equipment. For instance, a different satellite dish ofsatellite transmitter equipment 120 may be used for communication withsatellites in different orbital slots.

Satellites 130 may be configured to receive signals, such as streams oftelevision channels, from one or more satellite uplinks such assatellite transmitter equipment 120. Satellites 130 may relay receivedsignals from satellite transmitter equipment 120 (and/or other satellitetransmitter equipment) to multiple instances of user equipment viatransponder streams. Different frequencies may be used for uplinksignals 170 from transponder streams 180. Satellites 130 may be ingeosynchronous orbit. Each of the transponder streams transmitted bysatellites 130 may contain multiple television channels transmitted aspacketized data. For example, a single transponder stream may be aserial digital packet stream containing multiple television channels.Therefore, packets for multiple television channels may be interspersed.

Multiple satellites 130 may be used to relay television channels fromtelevision service provider system 110 to satellite dish 140. Differenttelevision channels may be carried using different satellites. Differenttelevision channels may also be carried using different transponders ofthe same satellite; thus, such television channels may be transmitted atdifferent frequencies and/or different frequency ranges. As an example,a first and second television channel may be relayed via a firsttransponder of satellite 130-1. A third, fourth, and fifth televisionchannel may be relayed via a different satellite or a differenttransponder of the same satellite relaying a transponder stream at adifferent frequency. A transponder stream transmitted by a particulartransponder of a particular satellite may include a finite number oftelevision channels, such as seven. Accordingly, if many televisionchannels are to be made available for viewing and recording, multipletransponder streams may be necessary to transmit all of the televisionchannels to the instances of user equipment.

Satellite dish 140 may be a piece of user equipment that is used toreceive transponder streams from one or more satellites, such assatellites 130. Satellite dish 140 may be provided to a subscriber foruse on a subscription basis to receive television channels provided bythe television service provider system 110, satellite transmitterequipment 120, and/or satellites 130. Satellite dish 140, which mayinclude one or more low noise blocks (LNBs), may be configured toreceive transponder streams from multiple satellites and/or multipletransponders of the same satellite. Satellite dish 140 may be configuredto receive television channels via transponder streams on multiplefrequencies. Based on the characteristics of television receiver 150and/or satellite dish 140, it may only be possible to capturetransponder streams from a limited number of transponders concurrently.For example, a tuner of television receiver 150 may only be able to tuneto a single transponder stream from a transponder of a single satelliteat a given time. The tuner can then be re-tuned to another transponderof the same or a different satellite. A television receiver 150 havingmultiple tuners may allow for multiple transponder streams to bereceived at the same time.

In communication with satellite dish 140 may be one or more televisionreceivers. Television receivers may be configured to decode signalsreceived from satellites 130 via satellite dish 140 for output andpresentation via a display device, such as display device 160. Atelevision receiver may be incorporated as part of a television or maybe part of a separate device, commonly referred to as a set-top box(STB). Television receiver 150 may decode signals received via satellitedish 140 and provide an output to display device 160. FIG. 2 providesadditional detail of various embodiments of a television receiver. Atelevision receiver is defined to include set-top boxes (STBs) and alsocircuitry having similar functionality that may be incorporated withanother device. For instance, circuitry similar to that of a televisionreceiver may be incorporated as part of a television. As such, whileFIG. 1 illustrates an embodiment of television receiver 150 as separatefrom display device 160, it should be understood that, in otherembodiments, similar functions may be performed by a television receiverintegrated with display device 160.

Display device 160 may be used to present video and/or audio decoded andoutput by television receiver 150. Television receiver 150 may alsooutput a display of one or more interfaces to display device 160, suchas an electronic programming guide (EPG). In many embodiments, displaydevice 160 is a television. Display device 160 may also be a monitor,computer, or some other device configured to display video and,possibly, play audio.

Uplink signal 170-1 represents a signal between satellite transmitterequipment 120 and satellite 130-1. Uplink signal 170-2 represents asignal between satellite transmitter equipment 120 and satellite 130-2.Each of uplink signals 170 may contain streams of one or more differenttelevision channels. For example, uplink signal 170-1 may contain afirst group of television channels, while uplink signal 170-2 contains asecond group of television channels. Each of these television channelsmay be scrambled such that unauthorized persons are prevented fromaccessing the television channels.

Transponder stream 180-1 represents a transponder stream signal betweensatellite 130-1 and satellite dish 140. Transponder stream 180-2represents a transponder stream signal between satellite 130-2 andsatellite dish 140. Each of transponder streams 180 may contain one ormore different television channels, which may be at least partiallyscrambled. For example, transponder stream 180-1 may be a firsttransponder stream containing a first group of television channels,while transponder stream 180-2 may be a second transponder streamcontaining a different group of television channels. When a televisionchannel is received as part of a transponder stream and is decoded andoutput to display device 160 (rather than first storing the televisionchannel to a storage medium as part of DVR functionality then lateroutputting the television channel from the storage medium), thetelevision channel may be considered to be viewed “live.”

Some or all of satellites 130 may be configured to transmit spot beams.A spot beam may allow a satellite to transmit a transponder stream to aparticular geographic region (e.g., to distribute local televisionchannels to the relevant television market). A spot beam is directed toa smaller geographic region than a non-spot beam. For instance, a firsttransponder that is a spot beam may be directed to provide a transponderstream to the greater-Boston area, while a non-spot beam may be directedto provide another transponder stream to the contiguous forty-eightstates. An advantage of a spot beam is that the same frequency may bereused for different geographic areas. For instance, a spot beam at afirst frequency directed to the east coast of the United States may bereused to carry different television channels at the same frequency tothe west coast. A multiregional signal or multiregional televisionchannel may refer to a signal/television channel that is broadcast to bereceived in multiple television markets, for instance throughout theeastern time zone of the United States. A regional signal or regionaltelevision channel may refer to a spot beam that is targeted to aspecific television market. In many instances, spot beams are used totransmit local television channels to a particular television market.

FIG. 1 illustrates transponder stream 180-1 and transponder stream 180-2being received by satellite dish 140 and distributed to televisionreceiver 150. For a first group of television channels, satellite dish140 may receive transponder stream 180-1 and for a second group ofchannels, transponder stream 180-2 may be received. Television receiver150 may decode the received transponder streams. As such, depending onwhich television channels are desired to be presented or stored, varioustransponder streams from various satellites may be received,descrambled, and decoded by television receiver 150.

Network 190 may serve as a secondary communication channel betweentelevision service provider system 110 and television receiver 150.However, in many instances, television receiver 150 may be disconnectedfrom network 190 (for reasons such as because television receiver 150 isnot configured to connect to network 190 or a subscriber does not desireor cannot connect to network 190). As such, the connection betweennetwork 190 and television receiver 150 is represented by a dotted line.Via such a secondary communication channel, bidirectional exchange ofdata may occur. As such, data may be transmitted to television serviceprovider system 110 from television receiver 150 via network 190. Datamay also be transmitted from television service provider system 110 totelevision receiver 150 via network 190. Network 190 may be theInternet. While audio and video services may be provided to televisionreceiver 150 via satellites 130, feedback from television receiver 150to television service provider system 110 may be transmitted via network190.

Television service provider system 110 may include a subscription portmanagement system 111 (SPMS). SPMS 111 may be configured to allow asubscriber to temporarily use his subscription at a television receiverother than the subscriber's television receiver associated with hissubscription. For example, if the subscriber's subscription is linkedwith television receiver 150, SPMS 111 may permit the subscriber toaccess and view the channels associated with the subscriber'ssubscription at another television receiver (e.g., a television receiverlinked with some other subscriber's subscription). SPMS 111 may at leastpartially disable the subscriber's television receiver while thesubscription is being used at another television receiver. Recording oftelevision programs may still be permitted, but viewing of live orrecorded television programming may not be permitted.

FIG. 2 illustrates an embodiment of television receiver 200. Televisionreceiver 200 may be in the form of a separate device configured to beconnected with a display device, such as a television. Embodiments oftelevision receiver 200 can include set top boxes (STBs). As previouslynoted, in addition to being in the form of an STB, a television receivermay be incorporated as part of another device, such as a television orother form of display device. For example, a television may have anintegrated television receiver (which does not involve an external STBbeing coupled with the television).

Television receiver 200 may represent television receiver 150 of FIG. 1and may be in the form of an STB that outputs video and/or audio to adisplay device, such as a television. Television receiver 200 may beincorporated as part of a television, such as display device 160 ofFIG. 1. Television receiver 200 may include: processors 210 (which mayinclude control processor 210-1, tuning management processor 210-2, andpossibly additional processors), tuners 215, network interface 220,non-transitory computer-readable storage medium 225, electronicprogramming guide (EPG) database 227, television interface 235,networking information table (NIT) 240, digital video recorder (DVR)database 229 (which may include provider-managed television programmingstorage and/or user-defined television programming), on-demandprogramming 230, television receiver identifier 228, preferences 231,user interface 250, external storage device 252, smart card 260, and/ordescrambling engine 265. In other embodiments of television receiver200, fewer or greater numbers of components may be present. It should beunderstood that the various components of television receiver 200 may beimplemented using hardware, firmware, software, and/or some combinationthereof. Functionality of components may be combined; for example,functions of descrambling engine 265 may be performed by tuningmanagement processor 210-2. Further, functionality of components may bespread among additional components; for example, PID filters 255 may behandled by separate hardware from program management table 257.

Processors 210 may include one or more specialized and/orgeneral-purpose processors configured to perform processes such astuning to a particular channel, accessing and displaying EPG informationfrom EPG database 227, and/or receiving and processing input from auser. For example, processors 210 may include one or more processorsdedicated to decoding video signals from a particular format, such asMPEG, for output and display on a television and for performingdecryption. It should be understood that the functions performed byvarious modules of FIG. 2 may be performed using one or more processors.As such, for example, functions of descrambling engine 265 may beperformed by control processor 210-1.

Control processor 210-1 may communicate with tuning management processor210-2. Control processor 210-1 may control the recording of televisionchannels based on timers stored in DVR database 229. Control processor210-1 may also provide commands to tuning management processor 210-2when recording of a television channel is to cease. In addition toproviding commands relating to the recording of television channels,control processor 210-1 may provide commands to tuning managementprocessor 210-2 that indicate television channels to be output todecoder module 233 for output to a display device. Control processor210-1 may also communicate with network interface 220 and user interface250. Control processor 210-1 may handle incoming data from networkinterface 220 and user interface 250. Additionally, control processor210-1 may be configured to output data via network interface 220.

Control processor 210-1 may contain a portability control 211.Portability control 211 may be configured to manage the portability of asubscriber's subscription account. Portability control 211, uponreceiving input from a user, may be configured to output an identifier(stored as television receiver identifier 228) of television receiver200. This identifier may uniquely identify television receiver 200 (or,more specifically, smart card 260) from among other televisionreceivers/smart cards associated with the television service provider.Portability control 211 may output the identifier by causing display ofan address (in the form of text) via a display device, such as atelevision. Portability control 211 may output the identifier by causinga graphical element to be displayed via the display device. Thegraphical element may be a representation of the identifier. Forinstance a bar code, QR code, or some other form of graphical elementmay be used to present the identifier. Therefore, in some embodiments,television receiver identifier 228 is a graphical element. In someembodiments, portability control 211 may output the identifier by awireless transfer to another device, such as a mobile device. Forinstance, network interface 220 may include a local wireless interfacewhich can be used to communicate with other wireless devices in thevicinity. The identifier may be used to identify television receiver 200to temporarily enable or disable permissions associated with asubscription.

Portability control 211 may be further configured to control permissionsbased on data received from a television service provider. For instance,instructions addressed specifically to television receiver 200 (e.g.,based on an identifier stored on smart card 260) may indicate whetherparticular television channels should be enabled or disabled for viewingand/or recording due to a subscription port. The instructions may bereceived via satellite and via one or more of tuners 215. Therefore,when additional television channels are being made available viatelevision receiver 200, instructions may be received that enabledecoding and output (but possibly not recording) of the additionaltelevision channels; when a subscription usually used at televisionreceiver 200 is being temporarily used at another television receiver,instructions may be received that disable output of at least sometelevision channels (recording may still be permitted).

Tuners 215 may include one or more tuners used to tune to transpondersthat include broadcasts of one or more television channels. In theillustrated embodiment of television receiver 200, three tuners arepresent (tuner 215-1, tuner 215-2, and tuner 215-3). In otherembodiments, two or more than three tuners may be present, such as four,six, or eight tuners. Each tuner contained in tuners 215 may be capableof receiving and processing a single transponder stream from a satellitetransponder at a given time. As such, a single tuner may tune to asingle transponder stream at a given time. If tuners 215 includemultiple tuners, one tuner may be used to tune to a television channelon a first transponder stream for display using a television, whileanother tuner may be used to tune to a television channel on a secondtransponder for recording and viewing at some other time. If multipletelevision channels transmitted on the same transponder stream aredesired, a single tuner of tuners 215 may be used to receive the signalcontaining the multiple television channels for presentation and/orrecording. Tuners 215 may receive commands from tuning managementprocessor 210-2. Such commands may instruct tuners 215 which frequenciesare to be tuned to.

Network interface 220 may be used to communicate via an alternatecommunication channel with a television service provider, if suchcommunication channel is available. The primary communication channelmay be via satellite (which may be unidirectional to television receiver200) and the alternate communication channel (which may bebidirectional) may be via a network, such as the Internet. Referringback to FIG. 1, television receiver 150 may be able to communicate withtelevision service provider system 110 via a network, such as theInternet. This communication may be bidirectional: data may betransmitted from television receiver 150 to television service providersystem 110 and from television service provider system 110 to televisionreceiver 150. Referring back to FIG. 2, network interface 220 may beconfigured to communicate via one or more networks, such as theInternet, to communicate with television service provider system 110 ofFIG. 1. Information may be transmitted and/or received via networkinterface 220. For instance, instructions (e.g., regarding subscriptionportability) from a television service provider may also be received vianetwork interface 220, if connected with the Internet. Network interface220 may be used to provide a confirmation to a television serviceprovider that instructions received from the television service providerhave indeed been executed.

Storage medium 225 may represent one or more non-transitorycomputer-readable storage mediums. Storage medium 225 may include memoryand/or a hard drive. Storage medium 225 may be used to store informationreceived from one or more satellites and/or information received vianetwork interface 220. Storage medium 225 may store information relatedto EPG database 227, other non-video/audio data 226, DVR database 229,television receiver identifier 228, preferences 231, and/or on-demandprogramming 230. Recorded television programs may be stored usingstorage medium 225 as part of DVR database 229. Storage medium 225 maybe partitioned or otherwise divided (such as into folders) such thatpredefined amounts of storage medium 225 are devoted to storage oftelevision programs recorded due to user-defined timers and storedtelevision programs recorded due to provider-defined timers.

EPG database 227 may store information related to television channelsand the timing of programs appearing on such television channels. EPGdatabase 227 may be stored using storage medium 225, which may be a harddrive. Information from EPG database 227 may be used to inform users ofwhat television channels or programs are popular and/or providerecommendations to the user. Information from EPG database 227 mayprovide the user with a visual interface displayed by a television thatallows a user to browse and select television channels and/or televisionprograms for viewing and/or recording. Information used to populate EPGdatabase 227 may be received via network interface 220 and/or viasatellites, such as satellites 130 of FIG. 1 via tuners 215. Forinstance, updates to EPG database 227 may be received periodically viasatellite. EPG database 227 may serve as an interface for a user tocontrol DVR functions of television receiver 200, and/or to enableviewing and/or recording of multiple television channels simultaneously.

The network information table (NIT) 240 may store information used bytelevision receiver 200 to access various television channels. NIT 240may be stored locally by a processor, such as tuning managementprocessor 210-2 and/or by storage medium 225. Information used topopulate NIT 240 may be received via satellite (or cable) through tuners215 and/or may be received via network interface 220 from the televisionservice provider. As such, information present in NIT 240 may beperiodically updated. In some embodiments, NIT 240 may be locally-storedby television receiver 200 using storage medium 225. Generally, NIT 240may store information about a service provider network, such as asatellite-based service provider network. Information that may bepresent in NIT 240 may include: television channel numbers, satelliteidentifiers (which may be used to ensure different satellites are tunedto for reception of timing signals), frequency identifiers and/ortransponder identifiers for various television channels. In someembodiments, NIT 240 may contain additional data or additional tablesmay be stored by the television receiver. For example, while specificaudio PIDs and video PIDs may not be present in NIT 240, a channelidentifier may be present within NIT 240 which may be used to look upthe audio PIDs and video PIDs in another table, such as a program maptable (PMT). In some embodiments, a PID associated with the data for thePMT is indicated in a separate table, program association table (PAT),which is not illustrated in FIG. 2. A PAT may be stored by thetelevision receiver in a similar manner to the NIT. For example, a PMTmay store information on audio PIDs, and/or video PIDs. A PMT storesdata on ECM (entitlement control message) PIDs for television channelsthat are transmitted on a transponder frequency. If, for a firsttelevision channel, multiple television channels are to be tuned to, NIT240 and/or PMT 257 may indicate a second television channel that is tobe tuned to when a first channel is tuned to.

Based on information in the NIT, it may be possible to determine theproper satellite and transponder to which to tune for a particulartelevision channel. In some embodiments, the NIT may list a particularfrequency to which to tune for a particular television channel. Oncetuned to the proper satellite/transponder/frequency, the PMT PID may beused to retrieve a program management table that indicates the PIDs foraudio and video streams of television channels transmitted by thattransponder.

While a large portion of storage space of storage medium 225 is devotedto storage of television programming, a portion may be devoted tostorage of non-audio/video data, such as EPG database 227 and othernon-video/audio data 226. This “other” data may permit televisionreceiver 200 to function properly. In some embodiments, at least tengigabytes are allocated to such other data. For example, if NIT 240 isstored by storage medium 225, it may be part of other non-video/audiodata 226.

Preferences 231 may include settings and favorites defined by asubscriber. For instance, the subscriber's favorite channels, displayconfiguration settings, and other types of preferences may be stored tostorage medium 225. Television receiver identifier 228 may be string ofcharacters that uniquely identifies television receiver 200 (or smartcard 260) from other television receivers/smart cards in communicationwith the television service provider. Television receiver identifier 228may be represented as a graphic (e.g., a QR code) that can be output fordisplay via television interface 235.

Decoder module 233 may serve to convert encoded video and audio into aformat suitable for output to a display device. For instance, Decodermodule 233 may receive MPEG video and audio from storage medium 225 ordescrambling engine 265 to be output to a television. MPEG video andaudio from storage medium 225 may have been recorded to DVR database 245as part of a previously-recorded television program. Decoder module 233may convert the MPEG video and audio into a format appropriate to bedisplayed by a television or other form of display device and audio intoa format appropriate to be output from speakers, respectively. Decodermodule 233 may have the ability to convert a finite number of televisionchannel streams received from storage medium 225 or descrambling engine265 simultaneously. For instance, each of decoders 234 within decodermodule 233 may be able to only decode a single television channel at atime. While decoder module 233 is illustrated as having three decoders234 (decoder 234-1, decoder 234-2, and decoder 234-3), in otherembodiments, a greater or fewer number of decoders may be present intelevision receiver 200.

Television interface 235 may serve to output a signal to a television(or another form of display device) in a proper format for display ofvideo and playback of audio. As such, television interface 235 mayoutput one or more television channels, stored television programmingfrom storage medium 225 (e.g., television programs from DVR database229, television programs from on-demand programming 230 and/orinformation from EPG database 227) to a television for presentation.

Digital Video Recorder (DVR) functionality may permit a televisionchannel to be recorded for a period of time. DVR functionality oftelevision receiver 200 may be managed by control processor 210-1.Control processor 210-1 may coordinate the television channel, starttime, and stop time of when recording of a television channel is tooccur. DVR database 229 may store information related to the recordingof television channels. DVR database 229 may store timers that are usedby control processor 210-1 to determine when a television channel shouldbe tuned to and its programs recorded to DVR database 229 of storagemedium 225. In some embodiments, a limited amount of storage medium 225may be devoted to DVR database 229. Timers may be set by the televisionservice provider and/or one or more users of television receiver 200.

DVR database 229 may also be used to record recordings of serviceprovider-defined television channels. For each day, an array of filesmay be created. For example, based on provider-defined timers, a filemay be created for each recorded television channel for a day. Forexample, if four television channels are recorded from 6-10 PM on agiven day, four files may be created (one for each television channel).Within each file, one or more television programs may be present. Theservice provider may define the television channels, the dates, and thetime periods for which the television channels are recorded for theprovider-defined timers. The provider-defined timers may be transmittedto television receiver 200 via the television provider's network. Forexample, referring to satellite television distribution system 100 ofFIG. 1, in a satellite-based television service provider system, datanecessary to create the provider-defined timers at television receiver150 may be received via satellite.

As an example of DVR functionality of television receiver 200 being usedto record based on provider-defined timers, a television serviceprovider may configure television receiver 200 to record televisionprogramming on multiple, predefined television channels for a predefinedperiod of time, on predefined dates. For instance, a television serviceprovider may configure television receiver 200 such that televisionprogramming may be recorded from 7 to 10 PM on NBC, ABC, CBS, and FOX oneach weeknight and from 6 to 10 PM on each weekend night on the samechannels. These channels may be transmitted as part of a singletransponder stream such that only a single tuner needs to be used toreceive the television channels. Packets for such television channelsmay be interspersed and may be received and recorded to a file. If atelevision program is selected for recording by a user and is alsospecified for recording by the television service provider, the userselection may serve as an indication to save the television program foran extended time (beyond the time which the predefined recording wouldotherwise be saved). Television programming recorded based onprovider-defined timers may be stored to a portion of storage medium 225for provider-managed television programming storage.

On-demand programming 230 may represent additional televisionprogramming stored by storage medium 225. On-demand programming 230 mayinclude television programming that was not recorded to storage medium225 via a timer (either user- or provider-defined). Rather, on-demandprogramming is programming provided to the television receiver directlyfor storage by the television receiver and for later presentation to oneor more users. On-demand programming 230 may not be user-selected. Assuch, the television programming stored to on-demand programming storage230 may be the same for each television receiver of a television serviceprovider.

User interface 250 may include a remote control (physically separatefrom television receiver 200) and/or one or more buttons on televisionreceiver 200 that allow a user to interact with television receiver 200.User interface 250 may be used to select a television channel forviewing, view information from EPG database 227, and/or program a timerstored to DVR database 245, wherein the timer is used to control the DVRfunctionality of control processor 210-1. In some embodiments, it may bepossible to load some or all of preferences to a remote control. Assuch, the remote control can serve as a backup storage device for thepreferences. Further, by storing preferences 231 to a remote control,the remote control can be brought to a second television receiver andused to apply preferences 231 to the second television receiver. Forinstance, if a subscriber is temporarily using his subscription atanother television receiver, by bringing his remote control, thesubscriber's preferences 231 from his home television receiver can beapplied to the visitor television receiver.

Referring back to tuners 215, television channels received via satellite(or cable) may contain at least some scrambled data. Packets of audioand video may be scrambled to prevent unauthorized users (e.g.,nonsubscribers) from receiving television programming without paying thetelevision service provider. When a tuner of tuners 215 is receivingdata from a particular transponder of a satellite, the transponderstream may be a series of data packets corresponding to multipletelevision channels. Each data packet may contain a packet identifier(PID), which, in combination with NIT 240 and/or PMT 257, can bedetermined to be associated with a particular television channel.Particular data packets, referred to as entitlement control messages(ECMs), may be periodically transmitted. ECMs may be associated withanother PID and may be encrypted; television receiver 200 may usedecryption engine 261 of smart card 260 to decrypt ECMs. Decryption ofan ECM may only be possible if the user has authorization to access theparticular television channel associated with the ECM. When an ECM isdetermined to correspond to a television channel being stored and/ordisplayed, the ECM may be provided to smart card 260 for decryption.

When smart card 260 receives an encrypted ECM, smart card 260 maydecrypt the ECM to obtain some number of control words. In someembodiments, from each ECM received by smart card 260, two control wordsare obtained. In some embodiments, when smart card 260 receives an ECM,it compares the ECM to the previously received ECM. If the two ECMsmatch, the second ECM is not decrypted because the same control wordswould be obtained. In other embodiments, each ECM received by smart card260 is decrypted; however, if a second ECM matches a first ECM, theoutputted control words will match; thus, effectively, the second ECMdoes not affect the control words output by smart card 260. Smart card260 may be permanently part of television receiver 200 or may beconfigured to be inserted and removed from television receiver 200.

In order to be able to decrypt an ECM, smart card 260 may need toreceive an entitlement management message (EMM) that authorizes smartcard 260 to decrypt the ECMs associated with a particular channel. AnEMM may be received via a tuner of tuners 215 or could be transmitted tothe television receiver via an alternate communication path, such as viathe Internet. The EMM may indicate specific programming authorizationsfor the television receiver in which smart card 260 is present. Further,an EMM contains an identifier associated with the specific smart card260, which may be referred to as a serial number or address. EMMs may beused by a television service provide to grant and deny access of thetelevision receiver containing smart card 260 to specific televisionchannels. For instance, without having received an EMM granting specificprogramming authorizations to a television channel, smart card 260 maybe unable to decrypt ECMs for the television channel. Various times atwhich one or more EMMs may be sent to a television receiver include:when a smart card is being activated for a new subscription, a user haschanged the television channels accessible in his subscription, and, asdetailed herein, when a user temporarily desires his subscription to beaccessible at another television receiver. Rather than solely blockingor allowing access to television channels, it may be possible to useEMMs to block output of a television channel by a television receiver,but permit the television channel to be recorded.

It should be understood that while the description detailed herein isperformed by a smart card, such decryption and interpretation of ECMsand EMMs (or similar data) may be performed by some other form ofsecurity device, which may, for instance, be permanently part of thetelevision receiver. Further, in some embodiments, the smart card may bepresent in the television receiver that cannot be removed by a user.

Tuning management processor 210-2 may be in communication with tuners215 and control processor 210-1. Tuning management processor 210-2 maybe configured to receive commands from control processor 210-1. Suchcommands may indicate when to start/stop recording a television channeland/or when to start/stop causing a television channel to be output to atelevision. Tuning management processor 210-2 may control tuners 215.Tuning management processor 210-2 may provide commands to tuners 215that instruct the tuners which satellite, transponder, and/or frequencyto tune to. From tuners 215, tuning management processor 210-2 mayreceive transponder streams of packetized data. As previously detailed,some or all of these packets may include a PID that identifies thecontent of the packet.

Tuning management processor 210-2 may be configured to create one ormore PID filters 255 that sort packets received from tuners 215 based onthe PIDs. When a tuner is initially tuned to a particular frequency(e.g., to a particular transponder of a satellite), a PID filter may becreated based on the PMT data. The PID created, based on the PMT datapackets, may be known because it is stored as part of NIT 240 or anothertable, such as a program association table (PAT). From the PMT datapackets, PMT may be constructed by tuning management processor 210-2.

PID filters 255 may be configured to filter data packets based on PIDs.In some embodiments, PID filters 255 are created and executed by tuningmanagement processor 210-2. For each television channel to be output forpresentation or recorded, a separate PID filter may be configured. Inother embodiments, separate hardware may be used to create and executesuch PID filters. Depending on a television channel selected forrecording/viewing, a PID filter may be created to filter the video andaudio packets associated with the television channel (based on the PIDassignments present in PMT 257). For example, if a transponder datastream includes multiple television channels, data packets correspondingto a television channel that is not desired to be stored or displayed bythe user may be ignored by PID filters 255. As such, only data packetscorresponding to the one or more television channels desired to bestored and/or displayed may be filtered and passed to eitherdescrambling engine 265 or smart card 260; other data packets may beignored. For each television channel, a stream of video packets, astream of audio packets (one or both of the audio programs) and/or astream of ECM packets may be present, each stream identified by a PID.In some embodiments, a common ECM stream may be used for multipletelevision channels. Additional data packets corresponding to otherinformation, such as updates to NIT 240, may be appropriately routed byPID filters 255. At a given time, one or multiple PID filters may beexecuted by tuning management processor 210-2. Similar to a PID filterbeing created for a particular television channel, a PID filter may becreated for timing signals for use in determining the location of thetelevision receiver.

Descrambling engine 265 may use the control words output by smart card260 in order to descramble video and/or audio corresponding totelevision channels for storage and/or presentation. Video and/or audiodata contained in the transponder data stream received by tuners 215 maybe scrambled. Video and/or audio data may be descrambled by descramblingengine 265 using a particular control word. Which control word output bysmart card 260 to be used for successful descrambling may be indicatedby a scramble control identifier present within the data packetcontaining the scrambled video or audio. Descrambled video and/or audiomay be output by descrambling engine 265 to storage medium 225 forstorage (in DVR database 245) and/or to decoder module 233 for output toa television or other presentation equipment via television interface235.

External storage device 252 may represent an external, detachablecomputer-readable non-transitory storage device. The storage device maybe memory, a hard drive, or some other type of device for storingcomputer-readable data. The user may be permitted to connect anddisconnect external storage device 252 to increase and decrease anamount of storage space available for storing on-demand programming,service provider-managed television programming, and/or user managedtelevision programming.

For simplicity, television receiver 200 of FIG. 2 has been reduced to ablock diagram; commonly known parts, such as a power supply, have beenomitted. Further, some routing between the various modules of televisionreceiver 200 has been illustrated. Such illustrations are for exemplarypurposes only. The state of two modules not being directly or indirectlyconnected does not indicate the modules cannot communicate. Rather,connections between modules of the television receiver 200 are intendedonly to indicate possible common data routing. It should be understoodthat the modules of television receiver 200 may be combined into a fewernumber of modules or divided into a greater number of modules. Further,the components of television receiver 200 may be part of another device,such as built into a television.

FIG. 3A illustrates an embodiment 300A of a subscription port managementsystem (SPMS) controlling access rights at multiple televisionreceivers. SPMS 111 of FIG. 3A may represent SPMS 111 of FIG. 1.Television receiver 310 and television receiver 320 may representinstances of television receiver 150 of FIG. 1 and/or televisionreceiver 200 of FIG. 2. In embodiment 300A, a home location 301 and avisitor location 302 is present. Home location 301 indicates asubscriber's address where the subscriber's television servicesubscription is, by default, used for access to television services. Forinstance, home location 301 may be the subscriber's home or thesubscriber's place of business (e.g., a bar, a restaurant). Visitorlocation 302 may represent a place where the subscriber is visiting anddesires to temporarily use his subscription with the television serviceprovider. Visitor location 302 may already be configured to receivetelevision channels from the same television service provider. Forinstance, visitor location 302 may represent someone else's home, atwhich a second subscriber lives that has a different (likely morerestrictive) subscription with the same television service provider.Visitor location 302 can represent a different geographic location thanhome location 301. For instance, visitor location 302 may be a differenthouse, in a different neighborhood, on a different street, in adifferent city, in a different state, or even possibly in a differentcountry, than home location 301. Referring to FIG. 1, a differentsatellite dish 140 would be used at visitor location 302 than at homelocation 301. SPMS 111, which may be part of a television serviceprovider system, is located at a third location 303, which is differentfrom home location 301 and visitor location 302.

At home location 301, television receiver 310 and display device 312 arepresent. Typically, a subscriber's subscription may be used for viewingand recording a set of television channels via television receiver 310.The address of home location 301 may be stored by the television serviceprovider, such as in subscription database 332 of SPMS 111. At visitorlocation 302, television receiver 320 and display device 324 is present.At visitor location 302, typically, a subscription may be active forviewing and recording a set of television channels via televisionreceiver 320. For embodiment 300A, it can be assumed that thesubscription typically associated with home location 301 includes alarger set of television channels and/or a different set of televisionchannels than the subscription associated with visitor location 302(which may be a reason why the subscriber visiting visitor location 302from home location 301 desires to temporarily use his subscription atvisitor location 302).

SPMS 111 may contain multiple components, including: port intake engine331, subscription database 332, port database 333, and authorizationengine 334. A subscriber, associated with home location 301, may bevisiting visitor location 302. Via mobile device 328 (which may be acellular phone, tablet computer, laptop, or some other form ofcomputerized device) the subscriber may initiate a subscription port.Mobile device 328 may be configured to communicate wireless with anetwork, such as the Internet, that allows for communication with SPMS111. Such communication is illustrated by a wireless link. To initiatethe subscription port, the subscriber may activate a particularapplication on mobile device 328, such as an application associated withthe television service provider. In some embodiments, the subscriber maynavigate to a website that enables subscription porting via mobiledevice 328. To initiate the subscription port, the subscriber mayprovide authentication information to mobile device 328, such as ausername and password. An identifier of the television receiver 320 atvisitor location 302 may also be provided. In illustrated embodiment300A, the subscriber has provided input to television receiver 320instructing television receiver 320 to output for display a graphicalindication that identifies television receiver 320. A camera of mobiledevice 328 may be used to capture an image of graphical representation326, which may be a QR code or some other form of graphical identifierof television receiver 320. In some embodiments, a string of charactersmay be presented via display device 324 by television receiver 320 thatidentifies television receiver 320. Such a string of characters may beentered by the subscriber into mobile device 328 (such as via a keypador touch screen). In other embodiments, the string of characters may becaptured via a camera of mobile device 328. In further embodiments, anidentifier of television receiver 320 may be wirelessly transmitted tomobile device 328, such as via Bluetooth® or some other wirelesstransfer protocol. By using such a wireless protocol, it may beconfirmed that mobile device 328 of the subscriber is actually in theimmediate vicinity of television receiver 320. Further, using a locationdetermination system, such as GPS, a location of mobile device 328 maybe captured. In some embodiments, the subscriber, via mobile device 328,may also provide an indication of how long the subscriber would likesubscription to be ported to television receiver 320 at visitor location302.

Of note, the subscription port request is transmitted by mobile device328 to SPMS 111 via a network, such as a cellular service providernetwork or a wireless local area network connected with the Internet.Communication to television receiver 320 (and, possibly, televisionreceiver 310) may only be available via a unidirectional satellite-basedarrangement. Therefore, a subscription port may be possible even iftelevision receiver 320 and/or television receiver 310 does not have abidirectional communication path with SPMS 111. However, in otherembodiments, it may be possible for a subscription port request to besubmitted via television receiver 320 if television receiver 320 isconnected with a network (e.g., the Internet) through with SPMS 111 isavailable.

The authentication information, the identifier of television receiver320, and/or the location of mobile device 328 may be transferred to SPMS111. Port intake engine 331 may receive such information and may analyzesuch information to determine if the subscription port request islegitimate and eligible to be performed. Port intake engine 331, byconsulting subscription database 332, may verify whether thesubscriber's submitted authentication information is valid. Port intakeengine 331 may also consult subscription database 332 to determine ifthe subscriber's subscription associated with home location 301 iseligible to be temporarily ported to visitor location 302. For instance,restrictions on the subscriber's subscription may limit the frequencyand/or locations to which the subscriber's subscription can betemporarily ported. In some embodiments, the rights to perform asubscription port may be an add-on feature for a subscription, or mayonly be permitted a certain number of times per billing cycle (e.g.,once per month). Port intake engine 331 may also consult port database333 to determine if the subscriber's subscription is currently beingported to some other location, which may invalidate the ability toperform a subscription port to visitor location 302. Alternatively, theprevious port may be canceled to permit the subscription port to visitorlocation 302. Port intake engine 331 may also analyze the identifier oftelevision receiver 320 received from mobile device 328, which may be agraphical representation. Port intake engine 331 may convert graphicalrepresentation 326 to a string of characters representing the identifierof television receiver 320. Alternatively, such analysis may beperformed by mobile device 328.

Port intake engine 331 may look up the identifier of television receiver320 in subscription database 332 to determine if television receiver 320is eligible to receive the subscription port. Also, an address ofvisitor location 302 may be looked up in subscription database 332 forcomparison with the location of mobile device 328. For example, to limitfraud, it may be useful to determine if mobile device 328 is within apredefined threshold distance (e.g., a quarter mile, to allow for error)of the address associated with visitor location 302 as indicated insubscription database 332. If not within the predefined thresholddistance, the subscription port may be denied.

If the subscription port is authorized by port intake engine 331,authorization engine 334 may serve to temporarily port the subscriberssubscription from use at television receiver 310 to television receiver320. To do this, authorization engine 334 may look up an identifierassociated with television receiver 310 in subscription database 332. Amessage containing instructions, such as an ECM, addressed to televisionreceiver 310, may be transmitted by authorization engine 334 totelevision receiver 310 that indicates output for viewing and/orrecording of the television channels associated with the subscribersubscription is to be disabled at television receiver 310. Referring toFIG. 1, the message may be transmitted by the television serviceprovider system 110 to the television receiver at the home location viaone or more satellites 130 as part of one or more transponder streamsthat are received by the television receiver via the tuner.Authorization engine 334 may also transmit an addressed messagecontaining instructions to television receiver 320 that indicates outputfor viewing and/or recording of the television channels associated withthe subscriber subscription is to be enabled at television receiver 320.This message may enable viewing and/or recording of the televisionchannels associated with the subscriber subscription for a predefinedperiod of time, such as twenty-four hours. In some embodiments, ratherthan enabling viewing of the television channels associated with thesubscriber subscription for a predefined period of time, viewing and/orrecording may be enabled at television receiver 320 until anothermessage is received that disables the subscription port. Authorizationengine 334 may store an indication of the subscription port to portdatabase 333. This indication may note when the subscription port isscheduled to end. In some embodiments, when the subscription port isscheduled to end, additional messages containing instructions aretransmitted to television receiver 310 and television receiver 320 torevert the subscription port such that the subscriber subscription isavailable via television receiver 310.

In some embodiments, the subscriber may use remote control 314 at homelocation 301 to provide input to television receiver 310. Televisionreceiver 310 and remote control 314 may be configured such thatpreferences set by the subscriber at television receiver 310 may bestored to remote control 314. The subscriber, by bringing remote control314 from home location 301 to visitor location 302, may apply thesubscriber's preferences to television receiver 320. The dotted arrowrepresents remote control 314 being moved from home location 301 tovisitor location 302. Further detail regarding how such a remote controlmay be used to receive, store, and transmit data is provided in U.S.Pat. No. 8,341,686, entitled, “Backup and Restore of NetworkConfiguration Data using a Remote Controller Device,” which is herebyincorporated by reference. The subscriber may provide input to remotecontrol 314 that indicates preferences stored on remote control 314 areto be applied to television receiver 320. For at least the duration ofthe subscription port, the preferences transmitted from remote control314 to television receiver 320 may be used to configure televisionreceiver 320. In some embodiments, when the subscription port is nolonger active at television receiver 320, the preferences transmittedfrom remote control 314 to television receiver 320 may be reverted topreferences previously set at television receiver 320. In someembodiments, rather than using remote control 314 to apply preferencesfrom television receiver 310 to television receiver 320, the preferencesmay be transmitted to television receiver 320 by mobile device 328. Instill other embodiments, such preferences may be received by SPMS 111via a network connection with television receiver 310 and transmitted totelevision receiver 320 via such a network connection or via satellite.

SPMS 111 of FIG. 3A is illustrated as having various databases andcomponents, which may be implemented using software, hardware, and/orfirmware. It should be understood that the functionality disclosedrelated to these components may be combined into fewer components ordivided out and performed by a greater number of components. Forexample, port database 333 and subscription database 332 may be combinedinto a single database.

FIG. 3B illustrates another embodiment 300B of a SPMS controlling accessrights at multiple television receivers. Embodiment 300B may representembodiment 300A of FIG. 3A while a subscription port to visitor location302 is in place. In embodiment 300B, a temporary subscription port hasbeen performed such that the subscriber subscription is available foruse at visitor location 302, while use of the subscription is at leastpartially suspended at home location 301.

While the subscription port may enable viewing of television channelsavailable through the subscriber's subscription at visitor location 302via a television receiver 320, recording of such television channels maynot be permitted at television receiver 320. In some embodiments,recording, via DVR functionality of television receiver 320, may bepermitted; however, the recordings may only be available during thesubscription port if the television channel recorded is availablethrough the subscriber's subscription, but not the subscription enabledat television receiver 320 after the temporary subscription port isreverted. If the television channel recorded during the subscriptionport is available during the subscription enabled after the subscriptionport is over, the recording of the television channel may be availablefor use after the subscription port. In some embodiments, despite asubscription port being in progress, timers set to record televisionprogramming at television receiver 320 before the subscription port wasperformed may still be performed regardless of the subscription port.

Referring to television receiver 310, while the subscription port is inprogress, viewing of television programs may be prohibited at homelocation 301. If a person attempts to use television receiver 310 toview television programming, a message may be displayed via a displaydevice 312 that indicates that a temporary subscription port iscurrently in progress and viewing television programming is blocked. Insome embodiments, television receiver 310 may be prohibited fromoutputting live television during subscription port. However, televisionreceiver 310 may be permitted to output stored television programmingthat was recorded prior to the temporary subscription port beingenabled. Further, in some embodiments, television receiver 310 maycontinue to enforce previously set timers to record televisionprogramming using DVR functionality of television receiver 310. Suchrecorded programming may not be available for viewing via televisionreceiver 310 until the temporary subscription port is reverted such thatthe subscriber subscription returns to being available at home location301. For example, if a subscriber has a timer at television receiver 310set to record a particular television program from 7:00-7:30 PM everyThursday, the subscriber setting a temporary subscription port tovisitor location 302 for a Thursday may not prevent television receiver310 from recording according to the timer, despite viewing of televisionprogramming via television receiver 310 being blocked on that day.

Once the predefined or set period of time of the temporary subscriptionport is over (and, possibly, messaging containing such instructions istransmitted to the television receivers), the subscriber's subscriptionmay return to being available via television receiver 310 at homelocation 301. Television receiver 320 at visitor location 302 may revertto the subscription previously associated with television receiver 320,as indicated in subscription database 332. In some embodiments, thereversion may not occur until the subscriber provides input via mobiledevice 328 to indicate that the subscription port is to be ended. Forinstance, the subscriber may not desire to end the subscription portuntil he returns to home location 301.

FIGS. 4A and 4B illustrate a swim diagram of a method 400 forsubscription porting. Steps of method 400 may be performed by the deviceindicated in the column in which the step is listed. Steps may beperformed by a mobile device, which may be mobile device 328 of FIGS. 3Aand 3B, a subscription porting management system, which may be SPMS 111of FIGS. 1, 3A, and 3B, a home television receiver, which may betelevision receiver 310 of FIGS. 3A and 3B, and a visitor televisionreceiver, which may be television receiver 320 of FIGS. 3A and 3B. As inFIGS. 3A and 3B, the home television receiver refers to the televisionreceiver where a subscriber's television subscription is by defaultactivated, which may likely be his home. The visitor television receiveris where the subscriber would temporarily desire to active thesubscriber's subscription. Means for performing method 400 includes thedevices and systems discussed above. Such devices and systems may becomputerized to include one or more instances of components fromcomputer system 500 of FIG. 5.

At step 402, input may be provided to the visitor television receiverrequesting identification of the visitor television receiver. Inresponse to such input, step 404 may be performed. This may involve thevisitor television receiver displaying an identifier (e.g., an address)unique among television receivers of the television service provider.Display of the identifier may be performed via a display device, such asa television. A graphical indication of an identifier of the televisionreceiver may additionally or alternatively be presented. Such agraphical indication of the identifier may be captured using a mobiledevice, such as using a camera of a cell phone. In other embodiments,the identifier of the visitor television receiver may be wirelesslytransmitted to another device, such as mobile device. Such a transfermay occur via a local area wireless communication protocol.

At step 406, a subscriber may provide a mobile device, such as thesubscriber's mobile phone, with an indication that a temporarysubscription port is desired to be performed. This may involve thesubscriber causing an application provided by the television serviceprovider to be executed by the mobile device. In other embodiments, thesubscriber may use the mobile device to access a webpage used toconfigure temporary subscription ports. Additionally, at step 406,authentication information about the subscriber may be received. Thismay involve the subscriber providing a username and password, which canbe used to authenticate the subscriber. At step 408, the identifier ofthe visitor television receiver may be received. In some embodiments,the identifier is received by a user manually typing in or otherwiseinputting the identifier to the mobile device. In some embodiments, acamera of the mobile device may be used to capture a graphicalrepresentation of the identifier being presented by display deviceconnected with the visitor television receiver. Such a graphicalrepresentation may be analyzed by the mobile device to obtain theidentifier or an image of a graphical representation may be transmittedto the SPMS for interpretation. In some embodiments, receiving theidentifier may involve receiving a wireless transmission from thevisitor television receiver performed using a local area wirelesscommunication protocol. At step 410, the mobile device may determine itslocation. The location of the mobile device may be determined using GPS,cellular tower triangulation or trilateration, or some other form oflocation determination.

At step 412, a subscription port request may be created. Thesubscription port request may indicate the authentication information ofthe subscriber, the identifier of the visitor television receiver (whichmay be a captured image of the graphical representation of the visitortelevision receiver's identifier), and/or the location of the mobiledevice. At step 414, this subscription port request may be transmittedto the SPMS. The subscription port request may be transmitted via anetwork connection not available to the visitor television receiver. Forinstance, a local wireless communication network in communication withthe Internet or a cellular service provider's network in communicationwith the Internet may be used to transmit the request to the SPMS. Inother embodiments, rather than using a mobile device to submit thesubscription port request, the visitor television receiver, if connectedwith the Internet, may be used to directly submit the subscription portrequest to the SPMS.

At step 416, the subscription port request may be received by the SPMS.The subscription port request received at step 416 may be received viathe Internet. At step 418, eligibility and access rights forsubscription port request may be analyzed by the SPMS. Analyzing thesubscription port request may include determining whether the subscribersubscription is eligible for temporary port. The subscriber subscriptionmay also be compared with the subscription currently active at thevisitor television receiver. For instance, a temporary port request of asubscription that is associated with television channels alreadyavailable via the subscription at the visitor television receiver maynot be permitted. The subscription port request may also be analyzed todetermine if the subscriber subscription is currently being ported tosome other television receiver and/or whether the subscription portrequest is valid based on any previous subscription ports that havepreviously been performed under the subscriber's account. Thesubscription port request may also be analyzed based on the geographiclocation of the subscriber's home television receiver as compared to thevisitor television receiver. For example, the television receivers maybe required to be located in the same country, state, or othergeopolitical region. In some embodiments, the location of the mobiledevice received as part of the subscription port request at step 416 maybe compared to an address on record for the visitor television receiver.If the locations do not match (within a predefined threshold), this maybe an indication that some form of fraud is occurring (e.g., the visitortelevision receivers installed in a location other than the addressindicated on the corresponding subscription). The subscriber'ssubscription may further be analyzed to determine which televisionchannels the subscriber is permitted to temporarily port. For instance,not all television channels may be permitted to be temporarily ported.

Assuming the visitor television receiver and the subscriber subscriptionare eligible for a temporary subscription port, method 400 may proceedto step 420. At step 420, via satellite, a disable request may betransmitted to the subscriber's home television receiver. An identifier(e.g., address) of the home television receiver may be looked up by theSPMS in a stored database. As such, the disable request transmitted atstep 420 may be addressed specifically to the home television receiverand transmitted via satellite. The disable request may be received bythe home television receiver at step 422 via a tuner. The disablerequest may be in the form of an EMM. The EMM may configure a smart cardor other form of security device of the home television receiver toblock output (or access altogether) of some or all television channels.The EMM may be received by a tuner of the home television receiver viasatellite in a satellite-based television distribution network. The EMMmay be specifically addressed to the television receiver using anaddress or serial number of the smart card or television receiver.

In response to the disable request, output of television programming(which may include live television programming and/or record televisionprogramming) may be temporarily blocked. Rather, a message indicatingthat a temporary subscription port is in progress may be output fordisplay. If the home television receiver is connected with a networkthat is in communication with the Internet, rather than transmitting thedisable request via satellite, the Internet may be used.

Method 400 continues on FIG. 4B. At step 424, access for viewing oftelevision channels that are available via the subscriber subscriptionmay be blocked at the home television receiver. In some embodiments, ifa network connection is available to a home television receiver, aconfirmation may be transmitted to SPMS at step 426. This confirmationthat access to television channels available through the subscribersubscription has been blocked may be received and logged at step 428 bythe SPMS.

At step 430, the SPMS may transmit an enable request to the visitortelevision receiver, such as in the form of an EMM, that containsinstructions enabling the subscriber subscription for use at the visitortelevision receiver. In some embodiments, the enable request transmittedat step 430 may only be transmitted if a confirmation is successfullyreceived at step 428. In other embodiments, the confirmation may not benecessary. Rather, in such embodiments, the message containing theinstructions to block access at the home television receiver may beperiodically transmitted for the duration of the temporary subscriptionport.

At step 432, the enable request, which is addressed specifically to thevisitor television receiver, may be received. The enable request may bereceived via a tuner of the visitor television receiver if the enablerequest was transmitted via satellite. If the visitor televisionreceiver is in communication with a network that is connected to theInternet, the Internet may be used to transmit and receive the enablerequest. The enable request received at step 432 may indicate apredefined time at which the temporary subscription port is to revert.The enable request may also indicate a set of television channels to bemade temporarily available at the visitor television receiver.

In some embodiments, the enable request may be in the form of an EMM.The EMM may configure a smart card or other form of security device ofthe visitor television receiver to permit output (but possibly notrecording) of some or all television channels (likely, the televisionchannels blocked at the home television receiver). The EMM may bereceived by a tuner of the visitor television receiver via satellite ina satellite-based television distribution network. The EMM may bespecifically addressed to the visitor television receiver using anaddress or serial number of the visitor television receiver's smart cardor the visitor television receiver.

At step 434, viewing of television channels under the subscriber'ssubscription may now be available. The television channels allowed to beviewed under the subscriber subscription may be in addition totelevision channels available under the visitor subscription alreadyassociated with the visitor television receiver, as such, televisionchannels available during a temporary port may be a the set oftelevision channels associated with the subscriber combined with asecond set of television channels of the subscription associated withthe visitor television receiver. In some embodiments, the televisionchannels available via the visitor television subscription may beignored. Therefore, following step 434, at least the television channelsthe subscriber is usually able to access via the home televisionreceiver can now be viewed via the visitor television receiver. In someembodiments, while viewing of the television channels is permitted atstep 434, recording of such television channels at the visitortelevision receiver is not.

At step 436, preferences of the subscriber may be loaded to the visitortelevision receiver. This may occur by the subscriber bringing hisremote control from his home location to the visitor location totransfer preferences stored on the remote control as previouslydescribed. In other embodiments, the preferences may be loaded from thesubscriber's mobile device or may be transmitted to the visitortelevision receiver by the SPMS.

During the period of time in which viewing of the television channelsunder the subscriber subscription is permitted at the visitor televisionreceiver, timers previously defined at the home television receiver, ifany, may still be executed at step 440. Therefore, although viewing oftelevision programming is blocked at the home television receiver,timers may continue to be executed such that television programming isrecorded by the home television receiver. Such recorded content may notbe available for viewing until the temporary subscription port isfinished.

At step 438, the temporary subscription port may end. The temporarysubscription port may be finished due to a predefined period of time,such as 24 hours, having elapsed. In some embodiments, an amount of timedefined as part of the temporary port request may have completed. Instill other embodiments, the subscriber may have submitted, via themobile device, a request that the temporary subscription port be ended.In still other embodiments, the temporary subscription port may be endedbased on the subscriber's mobile device no longer being located in thevicinity of the visitor television receiver. In some embodiments, justas the SPMS transmitted enable and disable requests via satellite to thehome television receiver and visitor television receiver, an enablerequest may be transmitted to the home television receiver at step 442and a disable request may not be transmitted to the visitor televisionreceiver at step 438. When the temporary subscription port is finished,the visitor television receiver may be instructed to allow access totelevision channels associated with the visitor subscription, with whichthe visitor television receiver was associated prior to the temporarysubscription port.

A computer system as illustrated in FIG. 5 may be incorporated as partof the previously described computerized devices, such as the televisionreceivers, remote controls, television service provider system, and/orthe SPMS. FIG. 5 provides a schematic illustration of one embodiment ofa computer system 500 that can perform various steps of the methodsprovided by various embodiments. It should be noted that FIG. 5 is meantonly to provide a generalized illustration of various components, any orall of which may be utilized as appropriate. FIG. 5, therefore, broadlyillustrates how individual system elements may be implemented in arelatively separated or relatively more integrated manner.

The computer system 500 is shown comprising hardware elements that canbe electrically coupled via a bus 505 (or may otherwise be incommunication, as appropriate). The hardware elements may include one ormore processors 510, including without limitation one or moregeneral-purpose processors and/or one or more special-purpose processors(such as digital signal processing chips, graphics accelerationprocessors, video decoders, and/or the like); one or more input devices515, which can include without limitation a mouse, a keyboard, remotecontrol, and/or the like; and one or more output devices 520, which caninclude without limitation a display device, a printer, and/or the like.

The computer system 500 may further include (and/or be in communicationwith) one or more non-transitory storage devices 525, which cancomprise, without limitation, local and/or network accessible storage,and/or can include, without limitation, a disk drive, a drive array, anoptical storage device, a solid-state storage device, such as a randomaccess memory (“RAM”), and/or a read-only memory (“ROM”), which can beprogrammable, flash-updateable and/or the like. Such storage devices maybe configured to implement any appropriate data stores, includingwithout limitation, various file systems, database structures, and/orthe like.

The computer system 500 might also include a communications subsystem530, which can include without limitation a modem, a network card(wireless or wired), an infrared communication device, a wirelesscommunication device, and/or a chipset (such as a Bluetooth™ device, an802.11 device, a WiFi device, a WiMax device, cellular communicationdevice, etc.), and/or the like. The communications subsystem 530 maypermit data to be exchanged with a network (such as the networkdescribed below, to name one example), other computer systems, and/orany other devices described herein. In many embodiments, the computersystem 500 will further comprise a working memory 535, which can includea RAM or ROM device, as described above.

The computer system 500 also can comprise software elements, shown asbeing currently located within the working memory 535, including anoperating system 540, device drivers, executable libraries, and/or othercode, such as one or more application programs 545, which may comprisecomputer programs provided by various embodiments, and/or may bedesigned to implement methods, and/or configure systems, provided byother embodiments, as described herein. Merely by way of example, one ormore procedures described with respect to the method(s) discussed abovemight be implemented as code and/or instructions executable by acomputer (and/or a processor within a computer); in an aspect, then,such code and/or instructions can be used to configure and/or adapt ageneral purpose computer (or other device) to perform one or moreoperations in accordance with the described methods.

A set of these instructions and/or code might be stored on anon-transitory computer-readable storage medium, such as thenon-transitory storage device(s) 525 described above. In some cases, thestorage medium might be incorporated within a computer system, such ascomputer system 500. In other embodiments, the storage medium might beseparate from a computer system (e.g., a removable medium, such as acompact disc), and/or provided in an installation package, such that thestorage medium can be used to program, configure, and/or adapt a generalpurpose computer with the instructions/code stored thereon. Theseinstructions might take the form of executable code, which is executableby the computer system 500 and/or might take the form of source and/orinstallable code, which, upon compilation and/or installation on thecomputer system 500 (e.g., using any of a variety of generally availablecompilers, installation programs, compression/decompression utilities,etc.), then takes the form of executable code.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that substantialvariations may be made in accordance with specific requirements. Forexample, customized hardware might also be used, and/or particularelements might be implemented in hardware, software (including portablesoftware, such as applets, etc.), or both. Further, connection to othercomputing devices such as network input/output devices may be employed.

As mentioned above, in one aspect, some embodiments may employ acomputer system (such as the computer system 500) to perform methods inaccordance with various embodiments of the invention. According to a setof embodiments, some or all of the procedures of such methods areperformed by the computer system 500 in response to processor 510executing one or more sequences of one or more instructions (which mightbe incorporated into the operating system 540 and/or other code, such asan application program 545) contained in the working memory 535. Suchinstructions may be read into the working memory 535 from anothercomputer-readable medium, such as one or more of the non-transitorystorage device(s) 525. Merely by way of example, execution of thesequences of instructions contained in the working memory 535 mightcause the processor(s) 510 to perform one or more procedures of themethods described herein.

The terms “machine-readable medium,” “computer-readable storage medium”and “computer-readable medium,” as used herein, refer to any medium thatparticipates in providing data that causes a machine to operate in aspecific fashion. These mediums may be non-transitory. In an embodimentimplemented using the computer system 500, various computer-readablemedia might be involved in providing instructions/code to processor(s)510 for execution and/or might be used to store and/or carry suchinstructions/code. In many implementations, a computer-readable mediumis a physical and/or tangible storage medium. Such a medium may take theform of a non-volatile media or volatile media. Non-volatile mediainclude, for example, optical and/or magnetic disks, such as thenon-transitory storage device(s) 525. Volatile media include, withoutlimitation, dynamic memory, such as the working memory 535.

Common forms of physical and/or tangible computer-readable mediainclude, for example, a floppy disk, a flexible disk, hard disk,magnetic tape, or any other magnetic medium, a CD-ROM, any other opticalmedium, any other physical medium with patterns of marks, a RAM, a PROM,EPROM, a FLASH-EPROM, any other memory chip or cartridge, or any othermedium from which a computer can read instructions and/or code.

Various forms of computer-readable media may be involved in carrying oneor more sequences of one or more instructions to the processor(s) 510for execution. Merely by way of example, the instructions may initiallybe carried on a magnetic disk and/or optical disc of a remote computer.A remote computer might load the instructions into its dynamic memoryand send the instructions as signals over a transmission medium to bereceived and/or executed by the computer system 500.

The communications subsystem 530 (and/or components thereof) generallywill receive signals, and the bus 505 then might carry the signals(and/or the data, instructions, etc. carried by the signals) to theworking memory 535, from which the processor(s) 510 retrieves andexecutes the instructions. The instructions received by the workingmemory 535 may optionally be stored on a non-transitory storage device525 either before or after execution by the processor(s) 510.

It should further be understood that the components of computer system500 can be distributed across a network. For example, some processingmay be performed in one location using a first processor while otherprocessing may be performed by another processor remote from the firstprocessor. Other components of computer system 500 may be similarlydistributed. As such, computer system 500 may be interpreted as adistributed computing system that performs processing in multiplelocations. In some instances, computer system 500 may be interpreted asa single computing device, such as a distinct laptop, desktop computer,or the like, depending on the context.

The methods, systems, and devices discussed above are examples. Variousconfigurations may omit, substitute, or add various procedures orcomponents as appropriate. For instance, in alternative configurations,the methods may be performed in an order different from that described,and/or various stages may be added, omitted, and/or combined. Also,features described with respect to certain configurations may becombined in various other configurations. Different aspects and elementsof the configurations may be combined in a similar manner. Also,technology evolves and, thus, many of the elements are examples and donot limit the scope of the disclosure or claims.

Specific details are given in the description to provide a thoroughunderstanding of example configurations (including implementations).However, configurations may be practiced without these specific details.For example, well-known circuits, processes, algorithms, structures, andtechniques have been shown without unnecessary detail in order to avoidobscuring the configurations. This description provides exampleconfigurations only, and does not limit the scope, applicability, orconfigurations of the claims. Rather, the preceding description of theconfigurations will provide those skilled in the art with an enablingdescription for implementing described techniques. Various changes maybe made in the function and arrangement of elements without departingfrom the spirit or scope of the disclosure.

Also, configurations may be described as a process which is depicted asa flow diagram or block diagram. Although each may describe theoperations as a sequential process, many of the operations can beperformed in parallel or concurrently. In addition, the order of theoperations may be rearranged. A process may have additional steps notincluded in the figure. Furthermore, examples of the methods may beimplemented by hardware, software, firmware, middleware, microcode,hardware description languages, or any combination thereof. Whenimplemented in software, firmware, middleware, or microcode, the programcode or code segments to perform the necessary tasks may be stored in anon-transitory computer-readable medium such as a storage medium.Processors may perform the described tasks.

Having described several example configurations, various modifications,alternative constructions, and equivalents may be used without departingfrom the spirit of the disclosure. For example, the above elements maybe components of a larger system, wherein other rules may takeprecedence over or otherwise modify the application of the invention.Also, a number of steps may be undertaken before, during, or after theabove elements are considered.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system for subscription porting, the systemcomprising: an application executed by a mobile device, wherein theapplication captures graphical representations of identifiers thatidentify television receivers via a camera of the mobile device; a firsttelevision receiver that controls access to television channels based onreceived instructions; a second television receiver that: controlsaccess to television channels based on received instructions; outputs,to a television for presentation, a graphical representation of anidentifier that identifies the second television receiver; and asubscription management computer system, configured to: receive, fromthe application executed by the mobile device, a temporary subscriptionport request that indicates the identifier obtained from the graphicalrepresentation, wherein: the temporary subscription port requestcomprises the identifier of the second television receiver output to thetelevision for presentation and authentication information linked with asubscriber associated with the first television receiver; in response tothe temporary subscription port request, transmit a first command to thefirst television receiver that disables viewing of a first set oftelevision channels linked with a subscription account of thesubscriber; and in response to the temporary subscription port request,transmit a second command to the second television receiver that enablesviewing the first set of television channels linked with thesubscription account, wherein: the first television receiver isconfigured to disable access to the first set of television channelslinked with the subscription account in response to the first command;and the second television receiver is configured to enable access toviewing of the first set of television channels linked with thesubscription account in response to the second command.
 2. The systemfor subscription porting of claim 1, wherein the second televisionreceiver outputs the graphical representation of the identifier of thesecond television receiver as a quick response (QR) code.
 3. The systemfor subscription porting of claim 1, further comprising the mobiledevice, wherein the mobile device: captures the graphical representationof the identifier of the second television receiver as displayed by thetelevision; determines the identifier of the second television receiverbased on the graphical representation; and transmits the temporarysubscription port request to the subscription management computersystem.
 4. The system for subscription porting of claim 1, wherein thefirst television receiver is further configured to: remain enabled torecord television programming based on one or more timers while viewingof the first set of television channels of the subscription account isdisabled.
 5. The system for subscription porting of claim 4, wherein therecorded television programming is inaccessible while viewing of thefirst set of television channels of the subscription account isdisabled.
 6. The system for subscription porting of claim 1, wherein thesecond command authorizes viewing of the first set of televisionchannels at the second television receiver for a predefined period oftime.
 7. The system for subscription porting of claim 1, wherein thefirst command and the second command are transmitted using a networkdistinct from a second network used to communicate between the mobiledevice and the subscription management computer system.
 8. The systemfor subscription porting of claim 1, wherein the first command and thesecond command are transmitted via a satellite-based televisiondistribution network to the first television receiver and the secondtelevision receiver, respectively.
 9. The system for subscriptionporting of claim 1, the system further comprising: a remote control,configured to: store a set of user preferences that were set for thefirst television receiver; and transmit the set of user preferences tothe second television receiver when the remote control is used tointeract with the second television receiver.
 10. A method for temporarysubscription porting, the method comprising: in response to user input,outputting, by a second television receiver to a television, a graphicalrepresentation of an identifier that identities the second televisionreceiver, wherein the identifier is unique among a plurality oftelevision receivers in communication with a subscription managementcomputer system; capturing, by application executed by a mobile device,using a camera of the mobile device, the graphical representation of theidentifier that identifies the second television receiver; receiving, bythe subscription management computer system, from the mobile device, atemporary subscription port request, wherein: the temporary subscriptionport request comprises the identifier of the second television receivercaptured using the camera of the mobile device, and authenticationinformation for a subscriber associated with a subscription account; inresponse to the temporary subscription port request, transmitting, bythe subscription management computer system, a first command to a firsttelevision receiver that disables viewing a first set of televisionchannels linked with the subscription account; disabling, by the firsttelevision receiver, viewing of the first set of television channelslinked with the subscription account in response to the first command;in response to the temporary subscription port request, transmitting, bythe subscription management computer system, a second command to thesecond television receiver that enables viewing the first set oftelevision channels linked with the subscription account; and enabling,by the second television receiver, viewing of the first set oftelevision channels linked with the subscription account in response tothe second command.
 11. The method for temporary subscription porting ofclaim 10, wherein the second television receiver outputs the graphicalrepresentation of the identifier of the second television receiver as aquick response (QR) code.
 12. The method for temporary subscriptionporting of claim 10, further comprising: capturing, by the mobiledevice, the graphical representation of the identifier of the secondtelevision receiver as displayed by the television; determining, by themobile device, the identifier of the second television receiver based onthe graphical representation; and transmitting, by the mobile device,the temporary subscription port request to the subscription managementcomputer system.
 13. The method for temporary subscription porting ofclaim 10, further comprising: recording, by the first televisionreceiver, television programming from the first set of televisionchannels based on a stored timer while viewing of the first set oftelevision channels of the subscription account is disabled based on thetemporary subscription porting to the second television receiver. 14.The method for temporary subscription porting of claim 13, wherein therecorded television programming is inaccessible while viewing of thefirst set of television channels is disabled due to the temporarysubscription porting to the second television receiver.
 15. The methodfor temporary subscription porting of claim 10, wherein the transmittedsecond command authorizes viewing of the first set of televisionchannels at the second television receiver for a predefined period oftime.
 16. The method for temporary subscription porting of claim 10,wherein the first command and the second command are transmitted using anetwork distinct from a second network used to communicate between themobile device and the subscription management computer system.
 17. Themethod for temporary subscription porting of claim 16, wherein the firstcommand and the second command are transmitted via a satellite-basedtelevision distribution network to the first television receiver and thesecond television receiver, respectively.
 18. The method for temporarysubscription porting of claim 10, further comprising: loading a set ofuser preferences to the second television receiver from a remote controlassociated with the first television receiver.